Evening Briefing: Ed Miliband's big gamble

"Game-changing", "transformative", "the best speech he has ever made"… those were just some of the verdicts after Ed Miliband's speech to Labour conference. In 2012.

This year, he's done it again. Today in Brighton Mr Miliband delivered a self-deprecating, confident and at times genuinely funny speech (it was "Ed, Live at the Apollo", said one observer). And it was the climax of a conference that, frankly, could have gone a lot worse. There were no present-day displays of infighting, or bust-ups with the unions. After Labour's disastrous summer, it felt like plain sailing. Almost as if Ed has momentum again…

Clearly, he wants us to start thinking of him as a PM-in-waiting. "It's a race to the bottom; not under my government," was one refrain. His pitch was mostly optimistic: "Britain can do better than this" was another theme. And he is definitely on the side of the consumer. His pay-off: "I'll lead a government that fights for you."

With that in mind, Mr Miliband proposes a war on the energy giants – even if it risks short-term price rises and power shortages – and reduced business rates for small businesses, paid for (he implies) by higher taxes on bigger businesses who have "short-changed" us. State intervention to fix prices and whacking big companies – socialism, in a word.

Ed Miliband's big bet is that in the wake of the financial crisis, recession and sliding living standards, Britain has fallen out of love with the market and its trappings; that voters are crying out for something more Left-leaning, more 1970s. It's a big bet.

One problem: a ComRes poll out today showed that more than six out of 10 Britons think he's not an election winner. The follow-through to this speech will have to be spectacular.

He would give votes to 16 and 17-year-olds, following Alex Salmond's lead. "Let's give a voice to these young people in our democracy."

Ed would ensure all schools had breakfast clubs and after-school care. A mid-afternoon closing time was OK last century "but it's not OK now".

His government would strengthen the minimum wage. It's been "falling in value and we've got to do something about it".

WHAT LIB DEMS?

Ed Miliband went very easy on the Lib Dems today, mentioning "the Liberals" only once in his conference speech – in a passing reference about the NHS. Is his softly-softly approach an early attempt to prepare the ground for a Lib-Lab Coalition? Chuka Umunna and Ed Balls seemed to employ the same strategy…

LABOUR'S HS2 SPLIT
Divisions in Labour over Hs2 intensified today after Maria Eagle, the shadow transport secretary, contradicted Ed Balls by insisting that her party "supports" the £50 billion project. In comments which seem designed to undermine Mr Balls's line on HS2, she departed from the agreed text of her conference speech to say that Labour still backs the rail link. It's thought that senior Labour figures believed the shadow chancellor went too far yesterday…

SEASIDE BRAWL

Iain Dale – Tory blogger and publisher of Damian McBride's memoirs – got into a seaside brawl this morning with an anti-nukes protester who, he claims, was "totally distracting" from a live McBride interview with ITV. Both men ended up on the pavement in an unseemly kerfuffle, with the protester's dog piling in, apparently attacking its owner. The pics quickly went viral, but the police said they were investigating the incident this afternoon. Is this what happens when you hang out with Damian McBride? Don't miss Iain's Top 50 Labour lefties list.

Godfrey Bloom, the MEP who destroyed Ukip's conference last week (in Nigel Farage's words) by calling a room full of women "sluts", has quit the party. He'll now sit as an independent in the European Parliament until the end of his term. In a remarkable statement he said: "I have felt for some time now that the ‘New Ukip’ is not really right for me any more perhaps than New Labour was right for the Denis ‘The beast of Bolsover’ Skinner." But Nigel Farage claimed in his own statement that Mr Bloom was "still privately a member of Ukip". Confused? So are we. Our report here.

GIVE MORE, SAYS BORIS

In a joint appearance with New York's Mayor Bloomberg, Boris Johnson urged the super-wealthy in Britain to give more to philanthropic causes. He was launching a 9 million euro competition to improve city life. Those who amass "colossal wealth" too often buy a "grouse moor", he said, or "schlosses in the home counties". They should "give to great causes in London" instead.